Conventional capacitors for power storage use in electronics and other electrical circuits are known, including various types of electrolytic and non-electrolytic capacitors adapted for a variety of applications, however, most existing capacitor designs typically result in relatively fixed shapes and dimensions such as discoid or cylindrical shapes, which limit their usefulness in certain size and/or shape limited spaces or applications, particularly where relatively large capacitive storage capacities are required. Additionally, most existing capacitor designs are limited in scalability, which may result in non-linear relationships between size and capacitance ratings, which may be undesirable particularly for applications requiring very small capacitor sizes, and/or large capacitances.
Many existing capacitor designs are also limited in the range of temperatures in which they may be used, and may not be suitable for high temperature use above about 100° C. to 200° C. Common electrolytic type capacitors are also typically limited by their sensitivity to the polarity of their electrical connection. Some more advanced capacitor designs such as super or ultra-capacitors also require relatively complex and potentially expensive manufacturing techniques in order to provide increased capacitive performance such as high specific capacitance ratings.
Ionic polymer metal composite structures have been developed for applications in the fields of actuators, sensors and smart materials, for example, and in some electrochemical ultra-capacitor designs. Existing ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) structures typically rely on a hydrated ionic polymer material hydrated with an ionic fluid, to allow migration of ions and corresponding concentration of water molecule density across the ionic polymer in response to the application of a potential difference, resulting in the desired mechanical deformation or actuation of the IPMC structure.
In many hydrated IPMC structures, the requirement to maintain hydration of the ionic polymer material with an ionic fluid, and to impregnate typically precious metal (such as platinum) electrodes into the structure of the ionic polymer material has resulted in typically complex manufacturing processes, leading to increased production cost and variability in mechanical and electrical properties of the resulting hydrated IPMC structures.
Accordingly, there is a need for a capacitor which may be simply and inexpensively manufactured and adapted to a wide variety of shapes and sizes, while providing desirable specific capacitive storage capacities and extended operating temperature ranges.